27 and a Day

Well, yesterday was my birthday and I turned the ripe old age of 27!

Yep, I am now officially in my late 20's...cue the daunting scary music! YIKES! Despite my fear of turning 27, I had a very sweet day and I'm delighted to say that I no longer enter this year with trepidation but with a sense of hope and excitement. I feel wiser, more self-aware, confident and even more mature then I've felt on previous birthdays. I've had some incredible experiences as a 26 year old and I plan on continuing in that tradition with even more gusto. Once again, this birthday I was reminded of just how lucky and fortunate I am to have such amazing people at my side.

My friend Emily sent me these beautiful flowers!!

I love that on birthdays you hear from friends you haven't talk to in months and months, but suddenly, the big birthday rolls around and they know what to do. : ) I might also add that my Facebook wall was seriously blowing up! I thought it was going to explode from all the sweet birthday messages. I am definitely not complaining about that at all. I loved every single wall posting!

So what exactly did I do for my birthday yesterday? I started it by running just over 5 miles on the treadmill at the Gym! Woo! Go me! It felt amazing after being in Vegas all last weekend and not doing any kind of physical activity at all. After leaving the gym, I headed to a somewhat deserted beach near Santa Monica. Harmed with sunscreen, my swimsuit and iPod, I was ready to relax and get some sun. Sadly, this beach excursion only lasted about an hour since the wind was just too much for me and I ended up shivering at the beach instead! Haha! By the last 20 minutes, I was curled up in my beach blanket cursing my grand plans of spending the day at the beach! Oh well! As my roommate said, "at least I got out there and tried it".

Before it got windy and cold!

Next, I headed to the glorious infamous cupcake shop in Beverly Hills, Sprinkles. I purchased one sweet delicious red velvet cupcake. If you haven't tried these $3.50 cupcakes then you are seriously missing out my friend. I know it's ridiculous to spend that much on one cupcake but they are just so good. And I've done extensive cupcake research so trust me on this if you haven't had the pleasure of trying one of these for yourself. On the weekends, there is a huge line out the door down the street to get into this place but thankfully, yesterday was a Monday so I was in and out very quickly.

YUM!!

Later at night I had a very nice dinner with my roommate Gina and her mom. We had to rush through it a little bit since I had plans to sing karaoke in Korea Town with a group of friends and I had reserved a private room for us. I had a blast! Everyone got up and sang and seemed to really enjoy themselves and let loose. I can't think of one song that I wish we would have covered....well, i was a little disappointed they didn't have "Shoop" by Salt 'n' Pepa.. haha

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night:

Theater Etiquette 101

Proper Theater Etiquette:

• Remember that it is not a movie. The people on the stage can hear and see you. Your reactions fuel them. Your negative actions can also affect them. Although you may never see this reaction, because being performers, they are skilled at hiding them, you are affecting them. The performers and all those people behind the scenes have worked very hard to create an evening of entertainment for you. Please show them the respect they deserve.
• This is not a concert either, these characters do not your sympathy-the actors are simply playing these roles.
• Also remember that the people sitting near you did not come to hear your conversation with your buddy, either in the theatre or on the phone. They did not come to hear you rattle paper or your kid fuss. They came to enjoy the performance.
• No cell phones: Don't let them ring or buzz during a performance. Do not speak on them during a performance. If you must take an emergency call, leave the auditorium and only begin speaking to your caller once you are away from the rest of the audience. Even your neat watch that chimes or beeps the hour is a distraction.
• Coming and Going: Please do not enter or leave the auditorium during a performance unless it is an emergency. Please arrive before the performance begins. The time posted is the time the show actually starts... there are no commercials or previews! It is the option of the theatre to prevent audience members from entering the auditorium until intermission or at least a scene change.
• Noises: You may not notice it, but candy or cough drop wrappers, whether unwrapped quickly or slowly, make a lot of noise! Please don't unwrap them during the performance. If you suspect you will need one, have a supply on hand already unwrapped.
• Fidgeting: Please sit still. Ramming elbows into your neighbor or kicking the seat in front of you is highly annoying.
• Sight Lines: Be aware that hats and large hairdos impede sight lines.

Well, I just got home from seeing "The Color Purple"at the beautiful Pantages Theater in Hollywood and I must say that I was very disappointed with the audience-specifically the group of obnoxious ladies sitting right behind Gina and I. They were absolutely ridiculous and felt the need to comment about anything and everything going on up on stage. Geez! How rude! Comments like, "You tell him girl", "Amen sister!", "Hell No!" and even singing along with some of the actors! Ugh! I've never been to a show and experienced this kind of rude behavior. I felt like I was at a concert or something. The people sitting next to us even complained to an usher but there wasn't much that they could do about it. Not only were these ladies being extremely rude to their fellow audience members but also to the performers. Damn, I'm still just so upset by this. It could have been so much more of an enjoyable theater experience if they has just shut up!

"The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster." -Oscar Wilde

Despite all this activity, it was a great show and I was blown away by all the wonderful singing. These people have serious vocal chops! Fantasia played the lead character, Celie, and she has such a unique and amazing voice with lots of power behind it. She certainly found her calling in musical theater. It doesn't even seem like they are working, it seems like too much fun to be considered a job. I would love to be in musical theater. . . maybe in my next life.

I ❤ Singing!

As I have already mentioned a few times in this blog, I love music. I especially enjoy dancing and singing along to music. Singing has always been one of my greatest passions in life. My first memories when I was little is of me singing along to the radio or one of my sister's tapes. Singing lifts me up when I'm feeling down and makes me feel better no matter what. Being in a choir was always the highlight of my life and up until recently I didn't realize how much I missed it.

There is something so powerful about singing with a group. It's actually kind of hard to explain to someone that hasn't ever experienced it. As a group, you somehow become this incredible single unit. You stop being able to pick out the individual voices but you hear the whole choir singing together. When there is amazing harmonizing going on, then it's just sheer beauty to listen to.

My best friends were usually always in choir with me too so those friendships became even stronger through this experience. I loved our high school choir, VOCE. My three best friends and boyfriend at the time were in it so it was seriously my favorite time of the day. When everyone else was bummed that we had to skip lunch to practice a song, I was secretly happy because that meant I got to do my favorite thing in the world AND be with my favorite people altogether. Basically it was my idea of heaven! : ) I was in a choir every year from 7th grade until my junior year in college. Of course I also entered many talent shows and performed with friends a lot.

Well, tonight (Wednesday night, that is) I drove all the way to Long Beach (I know, I'm crazy) to attend an all girls choir's practice. I found the choir online and they were an absolute pleasure to be around. I couldn't get over how warm and inviting they were to me. They even handed me their music sheets and got me up on the risers to practice right along with them. They are getting ready for an upcoming Californian choir competition on March 18th so they sounded very good. While I did really enjoy being with these woman, the drive is just too long for every Wednesday night and I will be checking out a few other choirs closer to where I live. I am still very glad that I went and got to hear the Long Beach Girls Choir.

Stay tuned for more developments on the choir of my choice!

These are some of my favorite singing quotes:

"Some days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway." ~Emory Austin

"The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside." ~Rabindranath Tagore

"You can cage the singer but not the song." ~Harry Belafonte

"So she poured out the liquid music of her voice to quench the thirst of his spirit." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne